Help a confused "noob" understand a few things.

[CrashRecovery]

So in my quest to understand this world of CB and all of its glory I have stumbled into what I feel is a black hole of opinion based tuning and modification of radios.
So if you watch the video Mike put out and how he goes about fixing and properly tuning radios seems pretty straight forward. I don't understand most of the technical jargon and some of the visuals on the scopes but I understand enough to know what is bad and what is correct.
Then you watch videos from Fine Tune CB Shop and even though he only seems to work on stryker radios his "rules" seem IMO "out there". He only wants a certain type of customer that will run the radio a certain way as he directs and if you do not plan to follow his rules, he wont sell you a radio. I've watched a few radios and I still can't understand what he does to the radio that makes it so good. He shows the scopes, power meters and that stuff but he keeps talking about BS artist who are technicians and don't show you some sheet of paper that show some sort of calibration. Now it could be my lack of knowledge here as to why I don't understand his methods but I also want to learn why certain things are done.
I can understand how signals look on a scope when it comes signal and the harmonics. When it shows the signal spreading out past the channel you have selected, I understand that's bad. But showing me some type of continuous wave, with out a reference to understand what is being shown does the average CB operator no good. Yea it looks like the dead key and modulated key are clean but how can "I" know that? The wave shows its stable but why is it that way? Why is it shown with only 3 peaks and 2 valleys? What does that mean to someone new to the hobby.
Mike at least explained the results on the scope and tried to "dumb it down" but others just show the scopes and watt meters and say "there you go". How does that help me understand how you cleaned up the dead key signal and the same for when you are talking? How did the technician clean up the receive side? I don't need to see how they did it but explain how it was done. Did something get switched out? Was a pot adjusted? How was it tested and can it be shown other than audio in the video.
So maybe some of you more knowledgeable people can explain what the waves mean on the scope and why a radio like the Stryker 955 might be considered superior to a President McKinley, Lincoln II, or say a Cobra 129. I just want to be able know what I am watching and how to get to a point in the hobby I can enjoy it with out spending a ton of money swapping out equipment just so I can have a good sounding system.

 

[Slowmover]

1). Comparisons are box stock only.

2). Units you named are GTG

3). If SSB doesn’t matter, there are some AM-only units with a great sound.

4). DSP Speaker means more than any peak’n tweak. They can’t hear as far or as well. There’s been nothing truly new in CB for a long while. With this exception: perusing the Amateur radio forums on the Net means exposure to the details of technique (plus some gear).

5). Every single week I hightail it around a traffic problem on the Big Road due to quality gear and an install I’ve made as good as I can (www.k0bg.com). A problem almost all others fail to hear in a timely fashion.

6). Define your use. That, alone, drives the rest. Base vs Mobile. Hobby vs Business Use. CB is a great tool. It’ll also keep an old guy out of the tavern.

— The West Mountain Radio CLEARSPEECH DSP Speaker is the game-changer. That plus a small outboard amp. Hear, and Get Heard.

— After that is some filtration tried as experiment. Ferrites, mainly.

— Tools to measure performance is the hardest step (minimal use), as numbers are the game.

“What’s what” with circuitry modifications past verifying factory tune & alignment — is the rabbit hole to avoid, IMO.

With a normal radio (performing to spec) it will be just about as easy to understand a message as from something fancy.

The antenna system drives the rest. The radio is a component to plug into the Antenna & Power systems.
It isn’t primary (though we act that way).

If the radio matches up to a President McKinley (or is considered “better” + price increase dead-stock) then the gains while mobile almost don’t exist. “Noisy” or “Less Noisy” is about it. (And that is downgraded by use of a DSP Speaker).

Mines turned on 10-hours/day (or more) in 300-days of the year. I want maximum gain & transmission (as possible). I’ll put up with “noise” some might not. This is different than the guy comes home from work to crack one and chat with the regulars. He might accept only dead-silent on-air twixt RX as received.

If working AM locally or on Skip — plus Sideband — from a Base Station (where a REAL antenna can be used). moving up to Amateur gear is the recommendation. (I bought a used Yaesu ft450d for that reason; there’s said be better by spending a bit more).

I’ve been tempted by wizardry. I’ve spent to try to get “more”.

But the money & effort belong in the installation.
The installation is the antenna + mount.

I’ll put it this way: once my Dodge pickup has the radio rig installed — nothing left out — sitting stationary at a good location with a 108” on the roof: I doubt that any AM/SSB radio will be all that much better than another.

Yaesu markets the ft450d as being portable or mobile. Having bought it used — despite those who dislike the brand — I’ve still less into it than a custom-fried radio and wholly disbelieve those who say their custom will outperform it on Eleven Meter. (Their choice, their radio). (Reports it doesn’t sound great are countered by other reports saying to keep at it; choose your own used gear). I put that into the Dodge, and . . . .

The Radio Q for me comes down to size + being menu-driven or not for AM/SSB operation. What fits the cab and is easiest for me to use. Reliable. Plays well with DSP Speaker + Amp. That’s everything from a McKinley to the end of the AM/SSB range. Except internal amp high-power radios.

The “work” is the unglamorous pair of systems running it.

.

 

[ForestRunner98]

OP...it’s because “you’re not paying attention. It’s all right there man. No hocus pocus” LOL

I watched his vids and it seems like he just goes in circles. Not really explaining on “how”.

I just post questions on this site and get a slew of help from the members! Some stuff I understand and some is wwwaaayyy over my head. Stick around!!

Anyways....IBTL!!!!

 

[TM86]

I ran for years on Cobra 19xs with a stock mic. The only thing that was done to that radio was to turn a single pot to bring up the modulation. Didn't even use a scope, just asked somebody if it sounded OK.

So you don't need to dump a lot of money into your setup to have a decent sounding rig. Listen until you hear someone who's sound you like, find out what they're running, and buy one of those should get you to about 90% of where you want to be.

Besides, the best bang for the buck is in the antenna system anyways.

 

[CrashRecovery]

Well for right now, just so I have something to use I've got a Wilson 1000 mag mount on a Larsen 3rd brake light bracket. Im borrowing the bracket from a budy who no longer needed it. Since I've got an Alumiduty no regular mag mounts for me. Ive got a Breedlove puck and a Larsen Nmo27 thats going to be installed soon. Only thing is the NMO27 is only good for 150 watts and I'm fine with that. Ill probably pick up a kl203 and mount it to the bottom side of the McKinley with some stand offs so I keep some air moving through them.
But back to the topic at hand. Its a shame Mike stopped making videos. I enjoyed watching him repair the radios and explain how and what he did. BBI is sometimes long winded and could have probably shorten a few of his videos. The guy from Fine-tune seems overly proud about his work. To dictate how a consumer of your product uses your product when there are other options to possibly go bigger, I just don't understand that.
What I also don't understand is some of the references he and other video people make towards the equipment they use. I understand it's a scope. I have an extremely basic idea what they are for, but just showing me wavelengths and nob spinning does nothing for me to understand why your adjustment is the best. If you tell me a 1.5 watt dead key produces this wave on the scope and its between two points, I might understand better. Just saying your using a 1k slug and move the switch to 2x on the power meter and say "aaaaaaawwwwdeeeeeeeoooooooo" so your meter swings up to 1200 watts is cool and all but not explaining why a 20 watt dead key will change to a 1200 modulated swing does nothing for me.
I also understand how a signal graph works and how it can show that your possibly transmitting on other frequencies but changing the dial to "zoom in" or "zoom out" by saying 30k or 100k doesn't help. I have an idea what the difference is but only because I've got a decent mechanical background from fiddling with things. I know its the span of the signal the equipment is monitoring but I've yet to find a reference to why kilohertz is being used.
I will eventually get my ham radio license and ill probably learn answers to some of my questions I have but at this moment, trying to understand why someone claims to have an edge over a competitor, is like me trying to understand why oil works as a lubricant. I know it does, but do I know why one brand might be better than the other, no clue, just like I am with CB right now.
Maybe I haven't found them yet on the tube, but are there other people I should be watching to help my knowledge grow and vise versa?

 

[Shockwave]

Other than a reliable transmitter, the biggest improvement you'll see with an HF rig over a CB, is the receiver. When the band is quiet, there are few stations that I can hear on my HF rig, that I cannot hear on the CB's. However, add a little adjacent frequency or impulse interference, and many times a station that is full copy in the HF rig, has been lost in the noise on the CB. It's not due to sensitivity. It's due to selectivity and much better filtering everyplace from the IF strip, to the noise blankers. All SSB frequency drift is eliminated too.

 

[Slowmover]

Well for right now, just so I have something to use I've got a Wilson 1000 mag mount on a Larsen 3rd brake light bracket. Im borrowing the bracket from a budy who no longer needed it. Since I've got an Alumiduty no regular mag mounts for me. Ive got a Breedlove puck and a Larsen Nmo27 thats going to be installed soon. Only thing is the NMO27 is only good for 150 watts and I'm fine with that. Ill probably pick up a kl203 and mount it to the bottom side of the McKinley with some stand offs so I keep some air moving through them.
But back to the topic at hand. Its a shame Mike stopped making videos. I enjoyed watching him repair the radios and explain how and what he did. BBI is sometimes long winded and could have probably shorten a few of his videos. The guy from Fine-tune seems overly proud about his work. To dictate how a consumer of your product uses your product when there are other options to possibly go bigger, I just don't understand that.
What I also don't understand is some of the references he and other video people make towards the equipment they use. I understand it's a scope. I have an extremely basic idea what they are for, but just showing me wavelengths and nob spinning does nothing for me to understand why your adjustment is the best. If you tell me a 1.5 watt dead key produces this wave on the scope and its between two points, I might understand better. Just saying your using a 1k slug and move the switch to 2x on the power meter and say "aaaaaaawwwwdeeeeeeeoooooooo" so your meter swings up to 1200 watts is cool and all but not explaining why a 20 watt dead key will change to a 1200 modulated swing does nothing for me.
I also understand how a signal graph works and how it can show that your possibly transmitting on other frequencies but changing the dial to "zoom in" or "zoom out" by saying 30k or 100k doesn't help. I have an idea what the difference is but only because I've got a decent mechanical background from fiddling with things. I know its the span of the signal the equipment is monitoring but I've yet to find a reference to why kilohertz is being used.
I will eventually get my ham radio license and ill probably learn answers to some of my questions I have but at this moment, trying to understand why someone claims to have an edge over a competitor, is like me trying to understand why oil works as a lubricant. I know it does, but do I know why one brand might be better than the other, no clue, just like I am with CB right now.
Maybe I haven't found them yet on the tube, but are there other people I should be watching to help my knowledge grow and vise versa?

Sure it’s the right question?

Going at it the back way (brute force reading; anything & everything) doesn’t uncover a particular AM/SSB unit as being “better” than the others. (All of this post concerns Mobile use).

As with the post directly above, the difference is in that from AM/SSB to Amateur. So to speak, a completely different radio design, (modifications to an AM/SSB rig won’t equal it. Or not — hypothetically — without costing as much as a low-end lightly-used Amateur unit) where the performance is available with tested equipment from the start.

It’s not too hard to tell when a Kenwood or Icom show up on 11-Meter. Everything about it is night & day different when used in a base station you are receiving.

Learning electronics (and modifying circuitry) is its own vocabulary. Plus proper test equipment. One doesn't need to be a certified armorer to place well in target shooting (is the analogy). There’s not really a point where it’s an advantage (as wind correction, etc, is more important). In using Citizen Band it’s knowing the order precedence in relaying information as Time is of the utmost (mobile).

Target shooting and Mobile CB have one chance to get it right. “Use” (language) overtakes gear at a point. (Amateur performance inside what others can hear and respond to . . won’t pay for itself).

50-150W mobile + DSP Audio overcome ones own deficiencies and that of the other mans unit.

There is a practical distance limit to how far you can be heard, and how many others will hear you (try to respond to you) and it is the local traffic volume. Then, of the job descriptions which comprise it.

Think of the radio having an effective use radius, a several-mile circle of influence (where you can be heard, and can hear everything). Play to this strength where some added juice plus better audio filtration maximizes what ANY AM/SSB radio can do plugged into that system.

I’ve swapped out the new President Lincoln II+ for a re-tuned Galaxy DX99v2 in the Peterbilt. All else the same they are quite close on AM-only. The former is better in some respects, but, is it enough when important decisions are being made at 64-mph?

No.

(The Linc has the advantage in audio clarity. Words + Voices without being muddied. The mind does less fill-in-the-gap work. Conversely, it’s harder to intuit distance. Almost too good).

I’d have to have “a radio peer” responding to me to take full advantage of the complete system. And that’s not real-world. The test is all radio rigs a few miles out . . . with the added ability to talk with those yet farther out. Nice when it happens, just don’t count on it.

A larger diameter circle is what I’ve added. (I’ve tried to make that reliable. Predictable). Isn’t that what this is about?

Performance for your rig will be the antenna system. The low-key NMO-27 will work for the inmost circle. The McKinley is capable of more. More fire in the wire will help, but DSP is bigger in a performance change (Reception trumps Transmission). Crutches won’t make a sprinter from a one-legged antenna system

Radios separate money from wallets.
Antenna Theory separates men from boys.


.

 

[Slowmover]

As to radios: the one with better SSB performance is the higher performance radio.

From the McKinley on up in price, what are the appreciable differences in SSB?

If one only concerns himself with AM/SSB “Export” radios, it’s a small group.

What Golden Screwdriver promises greatly enhanced SSB performance?

The few vids I’ve choked down treat SSB as an afterthought. Whatever changes made, the antenna + power carry more weight. Far more.

What radio is wanted? Just a CB? Or an Eleven Meter Radio (is how I characterize the magic tuning dilemma)?

I’ve gotten into conversations on-air with Big Radios, and, — as we are traveling in opposite directions — asked them to continue on 20-LSB as the signal weakens. Most can’t do it.

One cannot separate the radio from the environment (of other men) in which it works. What’s great on the bench may not change a thing in its use as a tool.

First, you must coax a response from others.
Second, you must be able to interpret that response.

— That you can hear them — and they, you — is 90% of the gear problem.

— What matters now that distance has been overcome is the use of language.

— Language is 90% of the whole. Gear is only a sub-set of the whole.

The clock is always running, and eliciting USEFUL information in just seconds is the game. (The hunting target appears . . . and then moves away. No second chance).

Better gear is (literally) adding a few more seconds to call & response.

.

 

[Cabover Bob]

I find it odd that Mr Sherman claims to sell a large volume of Stryker 955's, yet with 125+ dealers listed on Stryker website, his "shop" (rv in the desert) is not one of them.

 

[CrashRecovery]

But my local hole in the wall does sell them. If you didn't look up "cb shop near me" you would not know the little shop is in the TA Truck stop. I might have to venture back over there and see what he has. It's been probably 10 years since I was last in there and did a trade for some radio work and an amp for a set of factory superduty rims and tires I had.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Here's some basic layman description

Oscilloscope - allows you to see the modulation/audio waveform if you google it you'll see examples of good and bad but basically in the videos the wide line you see initially is the carrier and then they use a 1khz tone for modulation and it shows up as a nice repeating wave on the scope (or it should be smooth like nice ocean waves). As you increase modulation you'll see the wave peaks get higher - when overmodulated you'll start to see distortion of the waves (flat spots at the top, shape distortion) and you'll see gaps between the waves....that's bad

Spectrum analyzer they use to show if the signal is clean/dirty etc. and if radio is transmitting where it is supposed to.

Here's some good reading - https://www.tek.com/document/primer/what-spectrum-analyzer-and-why-do-you-need-one

I actually find it interesting none of the techs who do videos have ever done a really good video explaining all of the equipment and what they are showing people. I guess maybe they don't want people to fully understand what they are doing? I don't know.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

NU9N gives the whole scoop:


Oscilloscope Monitoring | eSSB | SSB | AM Audio Modulation, Amplifier and System Linearity (icycolors.com)





W2AEW has a good video:

 

[CrashRecovery]

So just looking around the net and youtube I ran into LessComm and his work. Now I know I've been focusing on the Stryker 955 but its one of the more popular multiband radios right now, from what I keep seeing. If you go to his online store he has two different setups for the 955 that have an almost a 1k price difference. The full built is this one.
https://store.lesterscustoms.com/supersr955hp.html
and the expanded freq and peak and tune version is,
https://store.lesterscustoms.com/strykersr955hp.html
Like I've said I'm far from understanding all of the jargon but except for the additional internal amp is that radio I have no idea what the rest of that stuff does. Well I know what the wire stuff is but the gadgets throw me. The other thing that I keep seeing is the time it takes to build a unit. A major custom job for him can be almost a full year wait, 280-320 business days. That sounds like a supply issue to me considering a lot of sites have them listed as backorder.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

A lot of the newer radios use surface mount component circuit boards and are very good right out of the box. The Stryker 955 and Anytone 6666 come to mind.

 

[Big Kahuna]

So just looking around the net and youtube I ran into LessComm and his work. Now I know I've been focusing on the Stryker 955 but its one of the more popular multiband radios right now, from what I keep seeing. If you go to his online store he has two different setups for the 955 that have an almost a 1k price difference. The full built is this one.
https://store.lesterscustoms.com/supersr955hp.html
and the expanded freq and peak and tune version is,
https://store.lesterscustoms.com/strykersr955hp.html
Like I've said I'm far from understanding all of the jargon but except for the additional internal amp is that radio I have no idea what the rest of that stuff does. Well I know what the wire stuff is but the gadgets throw me. The other thing that I keep seeing is the time it takes to build a unit. A major custom job for him can be almost a full year wait, 280-320 business days. That sounds like a supply issue to me considering a lot of sites have them listed as backorder.

The price difference is one has a amp attached to it for more power output.

You can pay $50 for a video of him doing your radio I guess if you want to make sure everything is actually being done?